Network devices, such as bridges and routers, sometimes are implemented using a pipelined hardware architecture in which the different unites of a processing pipeline recognize and process network packets that are consistent with different protocols. For example, a pipeline in a network device may process packets received by the device and then forward the packets to appropriate egress ports of the device. The packets may be forwarded to one or more egress ports of the device according to a forwarding decision, which may be based on one or more fields of one or more headers present within the frame. Because of their pipelined architecture, such network devices may be very efficient for processing packets that are compliant with a recognized communications protocol. However, whenever a new protocol is developed, existing units of the processing pipeline may not recognize packets that are compliant with the new protocol. The adoption of a new protocol may require the addition of a new processing unit to the pipeline. In an example, a network switch having a conventional pipelined architecture may not be capable of forwarding data packets that are compliant with emerging protocols such as Fibre Channel Over Ethernet (FCoE) communications protocols.